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There are two libraries on campus. Three major cafeterias, five smaller eateries, ten on-campus dorms, the theatre, all the various education buildings, athletic buildings, parking garages…. the copse of trees on the edge of campus for crying out loud. A veritable cornucopia of places for two people to meet in private, and yet…
“Oh hey, Jungkook, where are you headed?” Jimin calls out, catching up to him easily.
“Don’t you have class?”
“No?” He looks at Jungkook funny. “You hangry? Should we get some lunch?”
No, Jungkook thinks to himself, he has plans. But he can’t exactly tell Jimin that he has plans. “I actually really need to get some studying done.”
“You can’t study on an empty stomach,” Jimin insists, steering them towards the closest cafeteria.
“I ate earlier,” he lies.
“During class?”
Damn Jimin and his attention to details. Damn Jimin and his unfailing abilities at being a best friend.
“Mmhmm.”
Jimin clearly isn’t falling for it. That or he doesn’t care, because he just keeps pushing Jungkook toward the overwhelming scent of grill tops and fryers.
And okay… he is pretty hungry.
He pulls out his phone and discreetly texts-
Abducted by Jimin eating first
He feels a responding text in his pocket.
With his scholarship, Jungkook has the most insane meal plan in the building, so he tells Jimin lunch is on him. He might regret that when he sees Jimin grab two trays and then hands a third to Jungkook. They hit the wrap station and the cheesesteak station that Jimin tells him isn’t authentic but Jungkook doesn’t care, it’s good. They get a massive plate of fries and a burrito to share, some gatorades and whatever bags of chips are in reach.
A feast.
Jungkook swipes his ID and they look for an empty table big enough for their spoils.
The tv screens up around the edges of the dining area are playing Lady Gaga. Jimin immediately texts in some heinous list of music videos to terrorize the other students trapped in here with them. Jungkook adds a couple he’d like to hear for some variety. Jimin allows it because it ‘gives them a false sense of hope before the onslaught begins again.’
“Good grief.”
“I hate this new you,” Jungkook tells him. “Just curse like a normal person.”
“I can’t or Seokjin wins the bet, I really can’t let him this time.”
“Ew, I don’t want to know about it. Besides, he's not here.”
“No, but if I get comfortable that’s when I slip up!”
“Wha’e’er,” Jungkook says around a massive bite of burrito. “What are we good grief-ing, Charlie Brown?”
“Don’t look now but-“
Jungkook turns in his seat to look in the direction Jimin’s eyes had glanced and oh.
Oh no.
Suddenly, their international smorgasbord seems like a very bad idea. His stomach is turning more than The Scrambler at the County Fair.
His ex just walked in.
“Taehyung alert.”
Jungkook turns back around in his seat and rolls his eyes as hard as he can, ensuring Jimin sees. “You act as if that’s not your roommate and still someone we’re friends with.”
“I’m friends with.”
“What?”
“Me. I’m friends with Taehyung.”
“I’m friends with Taehyung.”
Jimin makes a skeptical and patronizing face at him. “No youre not.”
“We’re… friend- ly .”
Jimin snorts, nearly inhaling his Gatorade. “You two are rarely ever seen in the same room together any more and when you are it’s only planned get togethers. Otherwise, you're both extremely awkward and standoffish.”
“I’m not aw-“
“If you even try to tell me you're not awkward I will laugh so hard this entire building will look at us causing you to burst into flames on the spot.”
Jungkook shuts his mouth.
“Oh, hey guys.”
Good grief, he might be sick.
“Hey, Tae. Grabbing a bite before class?” Jimin asks.
Jungkook stares down at the mostly empty plate of fries, fully aware of how red his exposed neck is getting.
“Yeah. I think I might skip this one though, it’s the pre-test review and I’m already set.”
“You're sure?”
“Yeah, I talked with Yoongi after last class and he said I could have taken the test that day and passed so it was up to me if I wanted to get a refresh.”
Jimin laughs. “You’re supposed to call him Professor Min now, I think.”
Jungkook looks up just in time to see Taehyung shrug, nonchalant as ever.
As beautiful as ever.
He shakes the thought out of his head and glares at Jimin.
“Well, anyway, I’ll see you later Chim.”
“Yeah, see ya.”
Taehyung wanders off in the direction of the food and Jungkook pays extra special attention to the scraps of food left on the plates in front of them. He can feel Jimin’s eyes boring holes into him and he will not give him the satisfaction of looking up.
Jimin eventually clears his throat aggressively.
Jungkook sighs, slumping back in his chair. “What?”
“Nothing. Just wondering where ‘friendly’ went. Out the window, maybe?”
Jungkook throws a French fry at him and it quickly devolves into chaos that has to be taken outside before they get banned from the cafeteria, and no one is trying to follow in Seokjin’s footsteps in that regard.
“Okay, now go study on a full stomach like god intended,” Jimin tells him, already walking away, but not in the direction he expected.
“Where are you headed?”
“To see my boyfriend and then work.”
“Oh. Tell him I said the last batch of cookies weren’t bad and that I gave them to my math class.”
“Kook, you ate that entire container while we watched SVU instead of studying that one night.”
“Yeah, but you can’t tell him that. Tell him they were just alright and he’ll make even more than last time and they’ll be twice as good because he’ll be trying to prove something or whatever.”
“Why are you so devious? Especially with my boyfriend?” Jimin laughs.
“He started it.”
Jungkook actually has no idea who started it. It’s just the way that it is. Jimin smiles fondly and continues heading to the edge of campus where the bus stop is.
Finally!
Jungkook is alone.
He all but runs in the direction of the library.
On the third floor, all the way down the hall and to the left is a Quiet Room. Not the most discreet, if anyone walks in and sees them, there’s no explaining away that they were in there. Alone. But it’s better than wandering the stacks until they find each other and hoping no one happens upon them there.
At least this is what they’ve told themselves.
So Jungkook lets himself into the last Quiet Room on the left, the little window spilling light out into the hallway, and he’s already trying to bite back a smile and failing. His heart hammers like it always does when he swings the door open.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to skip class?”
Taehyung turns in the seat he was lounging in, the biggest, boxiest smile on his face. “Of course. I wasn’t lying when I said Yoongi all but said I could probably ace the midterm right now no problem let alone this random test.”
Jungkook drops his bag to the floor and collapses into the chair next to Taehyung with a heavy huff and closes his eyes for a moment. He feels calloused but still soft fingertips brush over his hand clasped onto the armrest. They dance over his skin until they find the spaces between each finger like chasms created exactly to fit Taehyung’s own fingers. He laces them together until they are a perfect seem. Some of the tension finally leaves Jungkook’s shoulders.
“I hate lying to Jimin. Stresses me out.”
“I know.” Taehyung continues to rub his thumb across the back of Jungkook’s hand.
“The sneaking around? I feel like I’m gonna be sick every time.”
“We can tell them.” Taehyung waits for a response, watching Jungkook closely. “I know you wanted to keep it to ourselves for a while, but… we can tell them if you want.”
Jungkook thinks about it. Really thinks about it.
Part of him wants to take the option and run with it. He’s sick of lying and sneaking around and hiding. He wants to be able to love Taehyung out loud. But there’s a reason they’re doing this.
After a year and a half of dating, they broke up.
It was… awful. Messy. And it rippled out like aftershocks of a major earthquake across their friend group. Poor Jimin getting hit the hardest as Taehyung’s roommate and the reason they’d even met in the first place. They were already so close by the time Jungkook graduated high school and followed after his childhood best friend. The three of them quickly became inseparable and Jimin was ecstatic when Jungkook and Taehyung started dating.
When they broke up Jimin didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Who he was supposed to comfort.
It took them months to find some sort of balance within the group again.
The others saw them find a way to be civil in group settings, or at least mostly just ignore each other, but it was good enough for the time being. What they didn't know was that it was only about a month after the break up that Taehyung snuck into Jungkook’s dorm room, tears in his eyes and begged for him to forgive him. To take him back.
“Not yet. I’m not ready.”
In truth, he feels beyond ready.
The part that’s holding him back from telling their friends is this fear that if their relationship is brought back out into the light, if it’s under observation again, will they self-destruct again? Is it too much pressure?
He wants to take it slow. Ease back into this, as if it were a new relationship. Starting over in the ways that matter, learning from their mistakes in every other way.
A glacier pace if they have to.
“Is that alright?” He asks Taehyung.
Taehyung lifts their joined hands and presses the gentlest of kisses, barely more than a press of lips, to Jungkook’s knuckles. “We have all the time in the world.”
This is what he missed during that month they weren’t together. The easy way in which Taehyung has always been able to set him at ease.
They don’t have long. Jungkook has a class in twenty minutes that’s on the other side of campus, and even though Taehyung skipped class to spend time with him, he never misses the opportunity to hang around after with Yoongi to get free rein of the instruments and a space in which to freely practice.
So, they talk about their days so far, hands held tight, smiles stretching the corners of their mouths, and Jungkook’s heart near bursting at the seams.
…..
After class, Jungkook is exhausted.
All he wants to do is head back to his dorm room and pass out for a little bit before he starts in on his homework, but he needs to swing by the Student Recreation Center and then the athletics building first. He trudges from the math and science building through a quickly calming campus.
The Rec Center isn’t all that busy right now, but it probably will be later in the evening. Jungkook waves to a couple of acquaintances as he passes by on his way to one of the back offices. He lets himself in with his key but ends up finding Mingyu already in there.
“Why did you have the door locked?” Jungkook laughs, letting himself into the little office.
“So nobody would come in here.”
It makes Jungkook laugh again. It’s funny how similar they are sometimes. How of all the people he could have gotten saddled with his freshman year with a potluck roommate situation, it was someone with such a kindred spirit. And now, they co-captain the school’s lacrosse team together, the perfect recipe of mutual respect and just fucking needing to work through bullshit that comes with living with someone for the last couple years, and a similar approach to many things while still having their unique talents and styles, ensuring a “well balanced breakfast” as their head coach likes to say.
“What are you doing here, anyway? I said I’d finalize the scrimmage plan for coach.”
“I need a copy of the schedule and Coach Hernandez’ signatures on a bunch of random stuff for Coach Aldritch.”
“What’s he need signatures for?”
“To prove that I’m here.” Jungkook rolls his eyes. With every season he becomes more and more disenchanted with playing college football, but that’s where his scholarship rides. So he puts in his time, and he’s still damn good at it, but his heart hasn’t been in it for awhile. Hence, the lacrosse team.
And the occasional scrimmage for the men’s ultimate team or the quadball team, when either are looking to shake things up with a wildcard they can’t predict to really make it feel like they’re playing another school’s team. He works it in when he has time. It keeps him busy, keeps him in shape.
Keeps him from getting bored.
It also doubles as getting him out of some of the random stuff the other guys do during the off season. Not that he doesn’t love dance, but he’d rather join Jimin in one of his classes than go to the mandatory “ballet” classes his coach enrolls everyone else into. He’s old school, a former player himself and thinks if they don’t do it the same way his team did in the 80’s then they’re doomed to fail.
But whatever, two birds, one lacrosse ball.
He gathers what he needs. Luckily, Coach Hernandez already signed off on everything. He’ll just need to run this over to the Athletics Building. It’s only a little annoying that he can’t send it electronically, but whatever, at least this way he can be sure it gets where it’s meant to go and put it directly in one of the coaches hands. He made copies, and might just hand them out to all the coaches. He’s been getting the feeling recently that they’re as tired of him as he is of mainstream collegiate sports. Who knew clubs were his calling?
“I can’t look at this any more, I’ll walk with you,” Mingyu offers, cleaning up the crumpled papers and notes in front of him.
They lock up and start heading back through the main gym area of the Rec Center. Jungkook was right, it’s only gotten busier since he got here, all the treadmills taken, the most popular machines with some people circling and waiting their turn like vultures in the sky.
“Mr. Fuckface is here.”
Jungkook doesn’t have to see him to know who Mingyu is talking about.
“Don’t call him that,” he sighs heavily. “We’re friends now.”
Mingyu makes a noise. Discontent and disbelieving.
Jungkook finally sees Taehyung. He’s chatting with Namjoon while Namjoon lifts weights. When he looks over and catches Jungkook looking at him he waves. Jungkook has to bite back what he knows would be a sappy little smile.
“He’s still a jerk. I don’t know why you’d be friends with him.”
Because you don’t know the full story.
“We just didn’t work out. He’s not a bad person.”
“You cried for weeks,” Mingyu says under his breath.
It makes Jungkook stop short. It’s hard to remember sometimes. Just how much heartache he’d felt, now that he’s on the other side of it. But he won’t lie… sometimes he worries.
“I’ll catch you later,” Mingyu grumbles when it’s clear that Jungkook is already shifting to walk in Taehyung and Namjoon’s direction.
“You know, Namjoon, you should really have someone spotting you. It’s not safe to lift without a spotter.”
“Hey, I’m right here. What do you think I’m doing?”
“My statement stands,” Jungkook says, holding back a laugh at Taehyung’s face.
Namjoon finishes his last rep and racks the bar before sitting up, mopping at his face with a towel and reaching for a water bottle. “Hey, Kook.” Hey takes a second to fully catch his breath. “I don’t think he’d let me die.”
Jungkook fully laughs now. “The bar is on the floor and you’re going to be caught under it.”
Namjoon starts laughing now, loud and boisterous. They’re drawing the attention of the people around them and Taehyung is starting to get pouty.
“I’m a very good spotter, thank you. Very diligent. Constant vigilance.'“
“Thanks, Batman.”
It sends them into another fit of giggles.
“Fine, you can ask someone else next time.”
“You can always ask me,” Jungkook offers.
“You’re always so busy. I can never seem to catch you these days. Both of you are, really, so I figured since I managed to get Taehyung on a rare free evening, I better take it while I can.”
A little pit of guilt sits in Jungkook’s stomach.
“You’ll be at Seokjin’s thing this weekend, right?” Taehyung asks Namjoon.
“Yeah, Jimin made Hoseok swear he’d be there, which means Yoongi and I have no choice.” He acts put out but he sounds and looks anything but with a cheesy little grin and everything. “But, that means no pictures or anything can be posted,” he says, getting more serious, voice dropping. “You guys need to hurry up and graduate so we can stop sneaking around.”
If only you knew…
“Says the career student,” Taehyung teases.
“This is it. I’m on track to graduate with Jimin and Hoseok.”
He sounds proud and Jungkook is proud of him. “That’s really awesome, Namjoon. You’ve worked really hard.”
“Taehyung is only a semester behind right? And then it won’t be too long for you, Jungkook.”
It’s going to feel like an eternity.
“Yeah, not too long.” He puts on as convincing a smile as he can. Luckily he has a well practiced game day interview smile always at the ready. He can feel Taehyung’s eyes on him.
“Well, I’m heading back to the dorm, taking a shower. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Yeah, I gotta run to the Athletics building, see ya!”
They sort of half scatter after that, as much as you can while still heading in vaguely the same initial direction before actually splitting off. They laugh and taunt from across the way when they realize they can all still see each other.
…..
Jungkook makes quick work of handing over the paperwork to the football coaches. He gets a few lectures about still needing to make it to all of the practices and scrimmages. He bites his tongue when he itches to remind them that he hasn’t missed one yet.
He’s just exiting the building when a hand wraps around his arm. His hackles were already raised from all the aggravation from the coaches and he instantly feels himself coiled for a fight, but when he turns, it’s Taehyung pulling him back into the shadow of the building.
This is one of the last places they should be doing this, yet Jungkook goes willingly.
“What are you doing?” He hisses.
“Thought maybe I’d walk you back to the dorm.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Crazy for you.” He says it like he knows it’s cheesy, like he’s layering on extra parmesan with every syllable.
Jungkook can’t hold back the laugh. He claps a hand over his mouth and leans forward to look around. There’s no one in sight, but it doesn’t mean Jungkook’s heart races any less when he tucks back into the shrubbery with Taehyung. Taehyung’s smile is as wide and beautiful as ever. Jungkook wipes that ridiculous, annoying, stupid, smug smile off by planting a kiss right in the middle of it.
He gets mostly teeth on the first pass, but the second one is a delicate, warm little kiss.
“Jimin is over at Jin’s if you want to come over for a little bit.”
“That’s a terrible idea,” Jungkook says, punctuated with kisses. “Even worse than this one.”
“Just to actually hangout for once. Talk. Hold hands. Feel like a real couple.”
There’s that guilt again, gnawing at Jungkook’s stomach like he’s eaten heaps of raw garlic. It’s not like he doesn’t want that too. Of course he wants that.
“Is he staying the night at Jin’s?”
“No, but he should be there until pretty late. We should have a few hours at least.”
There’s a glimmer of hope in Taehyung’s eyes. It’s impossible to say no to.
“Fine.”
Taehyung silently whoops, fist in the air and everything, and it makes Jungkook smile. It lifts that weight a little bit. He lets Taehyung lace their fingers together and pull him across campus. They weave through the shadows, dancing out of the halos cast by the tall street lights. They keep close to buildings, heads ducked, checking around corners. At one point Taehyung begins humming the Mission Impossible theme song sending Jungkook into a fit of giggles.
It’s so easy here in the dark. In the quiet of the night with no one’s eyes on them. They’re just any other couple.
Jimin and Taehyung’s dorm is one of the apartment style buildings on campus, much nicer than Jungkook’s but that also means it’s much more well lit. That there’s a common area worth hanging out in. That they now have obstacles.
They hold back laughter while holding hands as they hug the walls, darting from space to space until they get to the elevator. As soon as the doors shut, clasped hands wander.
Taehyung presses his nose to Jungkook’s cheek.
“I missed you.”
“You saw me earlier,” Jungkook teases.
“Never for long enough.”
Jungkook agrees, but he can’t tell Taehyung that. Especially not when those lips full of honey words find his-
Just in time for the elevator to ding at a floor that is not Taehyung’s.
They spring apart, Jungkook pulling his hood up over his head and tucking far into the corner. The girls that get on sound tipsy, laughing loudly and unabashedly as they sway, riding the elevator up a single floor. Jungkook chances a peek across the elevator at Taehyung, pressed all the way against the far wall, but his eyes are already on Jungkook.
The girls disembark, leaving behind a quiet so loud it echoes.
Taehyung brushes his knuckles against Jungkook’s but makes no move to do anything. Jungkook is embarrassed to admit he aches for it, but he’s too nervous of another run in to do anything about it.
So they ride in silence until they reach the floor Jimin and Taehyung live on. Jungkook knows the way, but he lets Taehyung lead. Luckily, no one else runs into them and they make it into the small apartment with no other issues.
Jungkook watches as Taehyung goes and flops on his own bed. Their dorm room is like a studio apartment or a glorified hotel room. They have their own bathroom and a small kitchenette but otherwise, the bedroom space is still shared, though still larger than Jungkook and Mingyu’s.
He sits delicately on the end of Jimin’s bed, not for any sense of preserving the cleanliness of Jimin’s bed, but mostly… he just doesn’t know what to do with himself. He suddenly feels so awkward. It’s been a long time since they’ve been alone together in a space safe from prying eyes and Jungkook doesn’t really know what to do with that. He doesn’t really know what Taehyung wants to do with that.
Taehyung must see the spiraling though. He became a master of seeing the changing tides of Jungkook when they were together, the ones so many others either couldn’t see or couldn’t accurately interpret.
“Wanna put on Kung Fu Panda? I can loan you some PJ’s for while you’re here.”
“Yeah, that sounds nice.”
Of course, Taehyung’s idea of PJ’s is either these cutesy short and button up sets or a pair of warm pants with no shirt. Taehyung changes into the latter, what he hands Jungkook is the former.
“No way.” Junkook laughs, unfolding the purple plaid set with piping, a little flower detail on the front pocket. It’s suspiciously oversized compared to the sets Jungkook has folded many times on laundry day. It looks like it might actually fit him.
“Only if you want. I might actually have a pair of your sweats around here somewhere.”
And something about that sits too heavy in Jungkook’s heart. They would have been left from before. They would have been a carry over from the breakup.
He doesn’t want to look at them.
“This is fine.”
He puts on the little pajama set and immediately Taehyung is cooing and fawning. The shorts are so tiny that his boxer briefs peek out of the bottom. But the fabric is soft and it smells good, and he feels really cute in them, so it’s hard to bite back a smile.
Tae gets him set up on his own bed with a cozy throw blanket and starts to prep the movie before joining him on the small mattress. They’re pressed close, but with their own separate blankets, there’s still this safety buffer.
They’re taking it slow.
They’re taking it slow…
Taehyung turns his face towards Jungkook. “I know we’re taking it slow, so I don’t want this to come across the wrong way, but… can I kiss you?”
It’s so silly and so sweet.
They were just kissing in the elevator, but Jungkook appreciates it. It’s different here, like this. So similar to nights they’d spent together in the past.
“Yeah,” he breathes out.
The brush of lips is near teasing at first, more breath than kiss. Jungkook chases after it. Their noses bump and teeth clack a couple times before they find their rhythm. They’re out of practice.
Kung Fu Panda fades to the background and Jungkook’s world becomes just him and Taehyung and sweet, melted sugar kisses. His fingers crease the plush fabric of the throw blanket with the effort to hold back when his entire personality has always been to go full throttle.
The scrape of keys at the door barely precedes the sound of the bolt lock sliding home.
Jungkook pulls away from Taehyung, eyes wide. Taehyung looks equally shocked and with some sort of super human instinct, he shoves Jungkook off the edge of the bed. He leans over with a look of apology and misery, just as Jimin walks in and practically slams the door shut.
“I lost the fucking bet!”
Jungkook scurries under the bed as quickly and quietly as he can manage. He can feel the vibrations of Jimin’s feet stomping across the room.
“Oh shit.”
“Yeah, Oh shit. Oh fucking bitch cunt ass fucking shit.”
“You said fucking twice.”
“And I meant it!”
Taehyung laughs and it seems to finally make Jimin calm down. Jungkook smiles under the bed knowing Taehyung’s laugh has the same effect on him.
Jimin sighs heavily and Jungkook can just barely make out that he’s now flopped onto his bed. “Are you watching Kung Fu Panda?”
“Yeah.”
“Missing Jungkook?”
Taehyung just hums. They sit silently for a bit, the movie still playing in the background.
“So you lost the bet.”
“Yeeeeaaahhh. So now I have to be the one that tells Jungkook he’s being an idiot.”
Jungkook had started to relax, to zone out and dissociate amongst the other dust bunnies, but now every muscle in his body is coiled. He feels sick suddenly.
“You really don’t have to do that,” Taehyung says, and Jungkook is slowly realizing they’ve talked about this before. Betrayal pricks at his eyes. He wants to run but he can’t seem to remember how to move.
“Well someone has to. It’s clear you guys are so good together-”
“Yeah, but-”
“And you went to apologize after! He’s not usually one to hold a grudge!”
“But, Jimin-”
“He obviously still loves you or he wouldn’t be so weird around you.”
“He still loves me?”
Jimin is quiet for a moment. “Clearly I need to tell both of you that you’re idiots.”
“Hey!”
“Are you blind or just choosing not to see it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Please,” Jimin huffs. “He never stopped loving you, even when he was so mad at you. Even when all he was doing was crying all-”
“Stop. Please.”
“Sorry… but really, Tae, he so clearly loves you, and I’m going to tell him to at least sit down and hear you out. Let you explain.”
“He’s not obligated to.”
“No, but you’d both be happier if he did.”
Taehyung doesn’t respond, at least not verbally. Jungkook strains to hear anything, to try and pick up the tiniest movements of the mattress above him. Eventually Jimin sighs dramatically, groans and stands up, sounding more like an old man than a college student. “That’s a problem for future Jimin. Present Jimin needs to take a shit.”
Taehyung laughs, but it sounds a little wet.
Jungkook stays still until the door to the bathroom is closed. When he rolls out from under Taehyung’s bed, he feels hands wrap around his arms to help him up. He thinks if he wasn’t so in shock he might pull away. Or tuck into those warm arms, he can’t quite decide.
But he doesn’t really have time to consider either anyway.
Taehyung helps him gather his stuff and hurry to the door. He pulls Jungkook to a stop just before he takes off towards the elevator, feet halfway into his shoes.
“Kook…”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s-” the toilet flushes in the other room. “Can we talk soon?”
Jungkook nods as Taehyung reluctantly closes the door on him. He steps into his jeans before going any further, just barely able to hear Jimin asking on the other side of the door-
“Who was that?”
And Taehyung’s answering, “Noise complaint.”
Mingyu lightly teases him for the “cute top” when he gets back to his dorm room. He doesn’t even have the energy to banter with him, just says thank you and gets into bed.
…..
Their hidden moments and stolen kisses become briefly locked eyes from across the room. Not for a lack of trying, there’s just no time.
Jungkook has one of the biggest scrimmages of the year for lacrosse before the season really kicks off. They’re set to play against one of the really small christian colleges in the county and it’s everything Jungkook can do to keep his focus on the game.
Luckily he and Mingyu spent hours prepping for this game. The plays fall from his mouth without much thought. The other team’s offense is nothing, barely making it around the midfielders and on the rare occurrence they get near the goal, their shots go wide or are lobbed so gently Jungkook’s grandmother could probably have caught it. Their only saving grace is that their defense is pretty stacked. The first couple plays get his team nowhere fast and Jungkook can feel the stress of everything off the field mixing with the frustration of not already having this game in the bag and he’s starting to come undone at the seams.
They call a quick timeout for a huddle at the sidelines, the coach, yelling whatever it is he’s yelling. Jungkook leans into his offense players, ready to try to pull something together, to lead them to something more than running in circles, when a loud whistle breaks through the noise of the crowd.
It’s a quick and simple melody that he recognizes.
His eyes dart all over the stands, but he doesn’t catch sight of him. He sees Hoseok and Jimin waving wildly, signs and streamers despite the low stakes of a scrimmage like this.
But it doesn’t feel low stakes. No game ever feels low stakes.
“Okay, fuck it. We’re doing Banana Milk. Go fucking wild.”
The timeout ends and the players take the field again. Jungkook’s hands grip his crosse, his gloves creaking with the pressure of it. He hears that whistle again and his nerves alight, but his mind goes quiet. The offensive players spread out like spilled milk. They don’t stop moving, they don’t even necessarily look like they’re trying to be anywhere productive. The defense of the other team has a hard time predicting where they’ll go next, trying to guess who is going to pass to who.
Jungkook scores the first goal of the game.
Jimin and Hoseok are waiting with big smiles and raucous cheers when he emerges from the locker room. Most of the crowd has disappeared leaving some friends and partners awaiting players to go out and celebrate.
Only Jimin and Hoseok.
…..
There’s a mini showcase the following day in the massive theatre at the edge of campus. A prelude to the bigger showcase for the performance majors later in the semester. Yoongi has been coordinating for weeks, grumbling every time Jungkook has gotten to see him in the last month during rare meetups at Jin’s when he begrudgingly hosts everyone off campus. Or when he’s caught Yoongi having a moment with Namjoon or Hoseok, away from prying eyes.
They aren’t so different, him and Yoongi.
In their case, it’s the fact that Yoongi is now officially on school payroll. Somehow, none of them expect the school board or '“concerned” parents to care that he was dating Hoseok and Namjoon long before he graduated and was hired for the department. It doesn’t matter that Hoseok took time off to tour as a backup dancer when Yoongi accepted the position. Doesn’t matter that Namjoon is only still a student due to the ebb and flow of the many majors he’s chased over the years, an RA and a TA and long having been considered an adult.
It’s hard to look at them and think that anyone wouldn’t support them being together. That they would think they needed to hide their love from anyone.
Jungkook feels like he’s been sucker punched, feet faltering across the grass where he’s taking a roundabout way to the theater, avoiding the other people streaming into the venue. His thoughts are a bitter medicine of his own making, hard to swallow. So he pushes it from his mind and proceeds to the back loading dock of the theater. The large bay doors are closed in anticipation of the show, load in long having been completed, but the side door is nearly always unlocked during these kinds of things for the students coming and going as needed.
He used to sneak in here with Taehyung when they first started dating. Kisses in the empty wings, laced fingers as they serpentined through the labyrinthian rows of chairs in the darkened auditorium, climbing one after another into the rafters of the very building like two fluttering birds in a menagerie, eager to show their dance meant for endless skies only to be reminded that they were simply two peacocks in a cage far too small.
What would they do with endless skies?
Jungkook pulls his hood up as he enters the building, grabbing a trashcan near the door and wheeling it in front of him. Dressed in all black, if he walks with purpose, no one will question his presence, not even the real techies. He ditches the trashcan before he passes through a door into a side hallway that he follows until it gets to the door that leads to the sound and lighting booths. Yoongi is probably in there, ensuring everything with the sound is exactly as he wants it. It’s where Jungkook used to watch Taehyung perform, if he wasn’t in the very front row hanging on every note.
He continues past the door and out of the end of the hallway into the lobby of the building. The showcase is about to begin, so the open space with windows letting in the last rays of sunshine is empty. As quickly as possible, Jungkook lets himself into the house, taking a seat in the back row.
The house lights are already down, the stage alight in warm amber gels, the scalloped curtains already drawn and one of the professors stepping off the stage. The first student emerges, violin in hand.
Ballads and concertos wash over him. He lets his eyes close, the music painting an ever changing scene in his mind as he follows along, across strings, brass, woodwind. His eyes shoot open when the first notes of River Flows In You ring out. It’s not the first piano piece that has been played this evening, not even the first time this song has been played, and yet from the very first echoing note of the song, Jungkook knew whose fingers could make such music.
Taehyung sits at the grand piano, eyes unfocused in the middle distance as his hands move in practiced choreography. He’s played this song a thousand times, could likely play it in his sleep. It’s mellow and lilting in that perfect crowd pleasing way, but Jungkook knows what “piece” Taehyung is likely playing.
He sits on the edge of his seat as the gentle melody shifts. Taehyung takes them on a waltz through Chopin’s Nocturne No.2, a crowd pleaser once more. Easy on the listener. Recognizable. Just as the notes begin to crest, he shifts again, this time into Nocturne No.6 with only a breath between the two. It’s haunting and slow until suddenly it isn’t. Taehyung’s entire body moves with the force in which he plays. With every press of the foot pedal, he looks like he may shove off of the bench, claw his way through the ivory and wood and wires to become as ensnared as his audience’s attention. This piece is played to completion, the heaviness giving way to an almost apologetic, gentle end.
The house is filled with applause, more so than any of the students before him. Taehyung looks surprised as he stands from the bench.
Jungkook is not surprised. He’s told him more times than he could count just how talented he is.
Taehyung steps forward to bow, eyes still wide, a little wild. Jungkook quickly raises his phone, tapping the flashlight once, counting to five and then again to turn it off. Taehyung’s eyes go directly to where his phone had just been and don’t look away until he bows and walks off the stage for the next performance.
Jungkook quietly ducks out of the theatre as the warm timbre of a cello fills the vaulted space. It feels like he’s dunked his head under water, the calm quiet of the lobby pressing at his ears, the heavy doors damping the sound of the music from the other room. Namjoon, Hoseok, Jimin and Jin are all somewhere behind him, waiting with flowers and praises.
He tries not to feel ugly things as he listens to the empty echo of his own footsteps across the tile, heading for the main entrance.
“Jungkook!”
The barely worn in leather of his formal shoes squeaks when he turns on his heel. In the hall to the backstage area, Taehyung stands panting. He must have run straight from the stage.
His black and white attire, hair slightly disheveled from the run, cheeks just this side of pink. He looks like he stepped out of a novel, galavanting out of the moor purely for the chance to look upon Jungkook’s face. He makes Jungkook forget how to speak sometimes.
“You came.”
“I don’t have flowers,” Jungkook says, regrettably.
Taehyung huffs a little laugh, one side of his mouth lifting. His eyes still hold that wild edge. Jungkook feels that magnetic pull, sparking electric. “I don’t need flowers.”
“You deserve them though.”
That half smile grows warm and wide. Taehyung leans against the door frame of the hallway, lip caught in a coy bite, lashes a flutter. He knows what he’s doing, but Jungkook welcomes it regardless.
He crosses back through the lobby, stopping directly in front of Taehyung. “You played beautifully. You always do.”
The coy, flirty smile melts into something soft and tender. “Yoongi will be irritated.”
“He’s never irritated with you,” Jungkook laughs.
“I wasn’t supposed to play that piece since I won’t be able to play it for the final and he wanted to give constructive feedback to everyone for their pieces.”
Jungkook shrugs. “I still can’t imagine him being irritated with you.”
Taehyung takes one of Jungkook’s hands, playing with his fingers, eyes glued to the movement of each tendon and muscle. It feels like he could be a conduit for Taehyung’s music, like the movement of each finger directly translates to notes that Taehyung could walk him through, arms bracketing him in.
“So, why play it?” Jungkook asks when Taehyung seems to become completely absorbed in the tiny places their skin touches.
“I was thinking about you.”
“Me?”
Taehyung finally looks back up from where he has delicately enshrined Jungkook’s hand. “Yeah. It’s the piece I was playing around with when we first met. I fear it has become fully entwined with memories of you,” he says as he brings their laced fingers up into view, a perfect visual of memories and music piece. Taehyung places a kiss on Jungkook’s knuckles before dropping their hands down to swing between them, still clasped tight. “I’ll have to play something officially approved for the final.”
“Is Debussy an option?”
“You want me to play your lullaby, Kook?”
He can’t help his cheeks heating. Even before they were together, Jungkook found himself drawn to Taehyung. He’d find him at random hours in the music building, practicing everything from pop covers to Beethoven and of course the piece he played tonight. At the time, the only thing that seemed to relax Jungkook enough from the pressures of collegiate football and the changes in uprooting to move so far from home, balancing academia and his sanity on a knife’s edge, was the gentle cradle of Taehyung’s seemingly endless playing. Moonlight Sonata was one of his favorites and Taehyung quickly learned it could put him to sleep almost instantly no matter how stressful the day.
It’s still Taehyung’s ringtone on his phone if it ever left silent mode.
Sprawled on cheap linoleum, a backpack for a pillow and Taehyung blending one song into the next… this is where it began. It’s where he begins. Not the scared kid with too much on his shoulders trying his best to be what everyone else wanted, but a cocksure man unafraid of anything standing in the way of the things he wants.
“Mm-mm.” He shakes his head, leaning closer into Taehyung. “That one is just ours.”
“The whole world has heard that song.”
“Not when it’s played by you.”
Taehyung bumps his nose against Jungkook’s. “So demanding,” he teases. “Perhaps Liszt then.”
They’re already so close that it takes only the smallest movement to press his lips to Taehyung’s.
The door behind Taehyung swings open, startling them apart. Jungkook manages to fling himself against the wall just out of sight as he hears Yoongi’s voice.
“Tae, what are you doing?”
“Waiting for you.” He doesn’t miss a beat.
“Travis is closing things out, shows over. I’m gonna go congratulate whoever is still hanging around.” His voice sounds further away with each word. Jungkook is across the lobby when the house doors open and people begin pouring out.
His feet keep tempo against the ground to the sonata playing in his mind.
…..
There’s already commotion coming from the direction of Seokjin’s apartment. Their reluctant host for off campus meetups. One of the few places Jungkook has never felt like he’s had to be anyone but himself. Still… he hesitates at the door.
He can hear Jimin full belly laughing, normally a comforting sound, but nothing seems to be shaking his nerves today. Something crashes to the floor inside, there’s overlapping yelling, more laughing. Would it be so bad if he turned around and went back to his dorm room and texted the group chat that he was sick?
Just the thought of having to put on the charade of distaste, or worse, indifference to Taehyung under the scrutinizing eyes of his nosy friend group is enough to make him feel queasy anyway. Would it even really be a lie?
“Cold feet?”
Jungkook jumps at the unexpected voice behind him. He whips around, and though he knew it was Taehyung, the sight of him illuminated by streetlight, handsome in his layered sweater and billowy slacks nearly takes his breath away all over again. He looks less like a college kid and more like a runway model, and not for the first time, Jungkook wonders why Taehyung had given up the double major of theatre performance. Pianist, actor, or just being himself, Taehyung’s existence commands attention.
When Jungkook doesn’t answer, Taehyung raises his eyebrows playfully, a smile following after.
“Don’t laugh at me.”
“I would never.” Taehyung joins him at the doorstep. “Shall we?”
Jungkook wants to say no. They shouldn’t be showing up together. But he can’t deny the comfort Taehyung’s presence has already brought him. “Together?”
“Always,” Taehyung says like a promise. One that Jungkook decides to believe in despite their past.
The door flies open before Taehyung has even wrapped his hand around the knob, Jimin beaming in the doorway.
“Oh Taetae, I didn’t realize you were here too! I was just coming to tell Jungkook to stop loitering and come inside already before the neighbors report him.” He follows with a laugh, pulling Taehyung inside with him and leaving Jungkook to blush furiously under the porch light.
Caught out, he follows, albeit reluctantly and closes the door behind him. It seems they’re the last to arrive, Jin and Yoongi in the kitchen cooking something that Jin is trying valiantly to argue with Yoongi about, but Yoongi just keeps agreeing to his half-baked made up “facts” about the dish at hand. Namjoon is meticulously setting the table, face flushed red, though from the look of it, Hoseok is directing what he’s doing and the self-satisfied look on his face has Jungkook quickly moving on from that particular room. Jimin and Taehyung are still in the living room, a table in the corner covered in various bottles of liquor and soda. He pours Taehyung a coke with a flourish, a clearly accomplished bartender this evening.
“Kook, what do you want?” He rearranges some of the cups and utensils, makes enough room to slice a lime.
“I’m good.”
Jimin rolls his eyes and fixes up a weirdly elaborate soda concoction, complete with the lime and a cherry. “Add vodka if you want, I’m not your mom,” Jimin says as he passes the cup to Jungkook.
Namjoon joins them as Jimin and Taehyung settle on the love seat and Jungkook on a couch that feels far too big. Namjoon is a welcome addition, balancing the couch out, but also just… Namjoon is always a welcome addition to anything if Jungkook really thinks about it. He never would have made it through his freshman year and finding out Jimin had a new best friend if not for the gentle RA, door almost always open, always willing to talk with the awkward new kid, invite him to different events around campus, help him study, tell him how to get to classes… Jungkook looks into his cup and thinks if he’s already this sentimental, he definitely doesn’t need to add any alcohol into the mix. He’ll be waxing poetic about Namjoon and how he deserves only good things before food is even ready.
And as if he’d heard Jungkook’s thoughts himself-
“Food’s ready,” Yoongi calls from the other room.
Hoseok is already helping to carry things over to the table, but the others jump in to help where they can and quickly Jin’s dining table that they have often teased him over is covered in a feast too fine for a bunch of college dudes and recent graduates. Seokjin must be in his brain too, because-
“Yaaahhh. This is a meal fit for me and Yoongi. Everyone be grateful we let you in tonight.”
Yoongi huffs a little laugh as he takes a bite. “I’m full just seeing you all enjoy the meal.”
Seokjin nearly chokes on his mouthful. Yoongi continues to eat, a little shit eating grin on his face.
“At least Yoongi doesn’t expect his boyfriends to go hungry or worse, eat the school’s food just because he happens to be older,” Jimin quips in Jin’s direction, but without much bite.
“You’re here at least four nights a week,” Jin sighs, holding out a plump grape for Jimin, who opens his mouth and happily receives the small gift. “I feed you more than anyone.”
Jungkook can’t help that his eyes are drawn to Taehyung. He tries to quickly look away, back to his plate, his drink, the others, anything, but he’s already been caught. Taehyung’s eyes meet his for the briefest of moments before Jungkook finds something to pick at.
He didn’t realize how often Taehyung had the dorm to himself.
Jungkook doesn’t have a right to be irritated. Or maybe he does, he isn’t sure. The food he pushes around his plate loses its appeal and he sets his utensils down, grabbing his drink. He momentarily regrets the absence of alcohol.
It’s just…
Why weren’t they meeting up there?
Why didn’t Taehyung invite him over more?
Why didn’t he know?
He feels a seed of confusion, watered by the worry in his veins, blossoming into a nauseous fear. One that threatens to poison him the longer he sits here.
He wants to go home.
Suddenly dinner is ending around him. The others are gathering their plates, the empty serving dishes Seokjin and Yoongi had gone out of their way to use and display like they were worthy of the finery.
Jungkook doesn’t feel worthy of anything right now.
He feels sour and frustrated and like his mind is going a million miles an hour. His thoughts will break the sound barrier and head straight for the stratosphere.
It’s easy to fall into the muscle memory of picking up. Of moving from one room to the next.
Of keeping his eyes on anything other than Taehyung.
It must be working, leaning into the tapestry they’ve woven of tepid toleration, because Jimin leans over at one point and tells him to play nice.
They play games and talk and laugh and Jungkook does his best to play the part, but he’s so far away right now. He can feel the eyes on him. He thinks of Jimin and his lost bet.
Jungkook’s an idiot.
He wants to go home.
It takes a moment to realize he’s stood from the couch. That the conversation has stopped and that everyone is watching him.
“Do you want me to walk with you?” Namjoon offers.
And oh… had he said it out loud?
“N-no. That’s ok, thank you. I’m just gonna use the bathroom first…”
As quickly as he can without making things any more awkward, Jungkook hurries from the room. He splashes water on his face, avoiding his own eyes in the mirror.
Breathe, Jungkook. Breathe.
He wipes the water from the edge of the sink. Straightens his shirt and brushes his hair back from his face. If he’s lucky, he can keep the panic attack at bay long enough to say goodbye and hurry back to his dorm. His eyes sting a little but he ignores it for now. Ignores everything his body is trying to do and feel for now.
Before the bathroom can start to feel like it’s pressing in on him and not in a comforting way, Jungkook opens the door and closes it behind him, taking great care to not make a sound. Movement to his right startles him before a gentle hand is placed on his arm.
His wild eyes sweep over Taehyung, standing there, concern painting his face. If Jungkook doesn’t look away now, he’ll start crying.
“Hey-”
Jungkook shakes his head. He’s not sure he can do this.
Taehyung gently coaxes him into the spare bedroom. They used to share this room after parties that ran late into the night. Jungkook would lie there tangled in Taehyung’s arms and let himself daydream of a life where this was how they would end every day.
“You don’t have to speak,” Taehyung offers. “You can tap my arm if you want me to stop talking, twice if you just want me to walk you to the front door and make sure no one asks any questions.”
Jungkook nods.
“I’m not going to ask if you’re okay, because obviously something is not right,” Taehyung says, delicately. “Was it brewing before the party or did it start here?”
Jungkook tries to parse out his feelings. How long has he been feeling on the edge of a breakdown? He looks up at Taehyung with wide, wet eyes.
Taehyung watches him, eyes dart over every bit of his face, every micro expression he can find. “Both?”
Jungkook nods.
“Okay.” He seems to think, dissecting the evening and searching through sifted out moments. “Was the final straw something one of us said?”
Jungkook nods again, though this time, his eyes fall.
“Something I said?” Taehyung guesses at the reaction.
Jungkook’s eyebrows knit together.
“So, kind of.”
The fingers still partially wrapped around the fabric of Taehyung’s sleeve, squeeze tighter, pulling slightly at the fabric.
“You think you can find words, or do you want me to keep going? Mm… pull once for words, twice for keep going.”
He’s slow to move, trying to find the thread of him in this moment. He tugs once.
Taehyung, patient as ever, stays quiet, giving Jungkook all the time in the world to find his words.
“‘M tired.”
“Do you want to sit?”
He nods, starting to feel like a bobble head. His body feels heavy. Taehyung moves them to the edge of the bed and Jungkook is grateful for a place to set his body for a bit while he’s not quite in there.
“Jimin’s here a lot.”
Taehyung looks a little confused by the statement, but nods. “Yeah?”
“But we’ve been sneaking around.”
Jungkook tries to keep his focus on Taehyung’s face. The way his brows crease and uncrease and crease again. The way his eyes move in little sweeps of motion as if flipping through a rolodex of the evening.
“You wanted to come over…” He looks at Jungkook for some sort of confirmation.
Jungkook tugs on his shirt again.
“Finding out that we could have had the dorm to ourselves but I didn’t invite you over upset you?” He doesn’t ask like an accusation, just clarification, and Jungkook tries to will himself to feel it as such.
He nods. Shakes his head. Takes a deep breath and tries to find the center of gravity. “This week sucked…”
Taehyung laughs a little. He works Jungkook’s hand free from his shirt and massages the aching muscles there, stretching the tightly coiled fingers.
“It was busy and I barely saw you… I was scared of how tonight was going to go and I think that pushed me over the edge.”
“I wasn’t there.”
“Huh?”
“At the dorm. I didn’t invite you over because I wasn’t there.”
“Where were you?”
“Working.”
“Since when do you have a job?” Jungkook racks his brain trying to think if Taehyung had told him about this at any point, or if he’d heard it through their friends.
“Just a couple months… I was trying to surprise you.”
“Surprise me?”
“Yeah. I graduate soon and I’ll be moving out of the dorm. Jimin plans on moving in here and I… well, I was thinking if I had my own place, maybe we wouldn’t have to sneak around so much.”
“Oh.”
“If that’s still what you want…”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t know if the sneaking around was what was doing it for you, maybe?”
“What? I told you it stresses me out.”
“Yeah, but it’s kept it interesting, right? Hard to be bored.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” He feels like he’s slowly coming back into himself, but he’s not sure what Taehyung is trying to say to him. Not sure if he should be offended or not.
Are they fighting?
Taehyung falters. He opens and closes his mouth a couple times, floundering. A fish gasping out of water, and Jungkook wonders if he’d even meant to say anything.
“I don’t want you to get bored of me.”
Jungkook is left reeling for a moment. He cannot fathom finding Taehyung boring. Even before they broke up, on days when they didn’t have class or practice and could get away without doing homework or studying if only for an hour, the non-date dates were everything he could have asked for. Sitting quietly together, Jungkook playing on his switch and Taehyung scrolling through funny videos or editing photos he had taken of the group into silly memes; both of them taking turns to pause and delight in what the other was doing before returning to their own thing. Couple’s dinner at the campus dining hall closest to them, eating passable food and texting in increasingly stupid music videos to play over the tv’s. There’s never been a time with Taehyung that he hasn’t treasured.
Even the hard days, just seeing Taehyung was enough.
“You’re the furthest person from boring I’ve ever known.”
Taehyung’s face pinches and Jungkook realizes far too slow that he’s starting to cry. He scrambles, standing up to get in front of Taehyung, wiping diligently at his cheeks, worry building back up in him again.
“Sorry,” Taehyung says, the word wet and choked.
“Hey, hey,” Jungkook says softly. “Why are you crying?”
“I just get scared.”
Jungkook understands being afraid. He’s scared more than he likes to admit.
“Scared of what?”
“It’s not fair of me, I know. I’m trying to deal with my insecurities…”
“But…”
“I’m scared that I’m just one of your hobbies. That you’ll find one you like more and I’ll be forgotten or worse, you’ll stay with me out of some sort of obligation but wish you were elsewhere. Like football.”
He doesn’t even have time to be rightfully upset about how Taehyung is taking something he really can’t help, something that has no bearing on anyone but himself, and making it about their relationship problems. Not when everything from the past several months is slotting into place. Dots connected into a full image like those silly activities for children.
He feels like he should have seen the image taking shape.
They broke up not long after Jungkook started getting into Lacrosse. He’d wondered if the fights were brought on by the gaps in seeing each other, by the way he couldn’t stay awake long enough to do anything, flaking on group hangouts, sleeping through some of his and Taehyung’s dates only to be woken by gentle hands in his hair.
“You’re not football. You’re not a hobby.” He’s trying desperately to recontextualize the end of their relationship, the short time they were broken up, the start of this new thing they have.
“I know.” Taehyung sounds miserable. He looks like the words leave a bad taste in his mouth. “But I couldn’t get it out of my head and I started self-sabotaging.”
He was trying to end it before Jungkook got bored and left him first…
Jungkook kneels in front of Taehyung. He places his head on Taehyung’s thigh, energy nearly fully drained, but he needs Taehyung to hear this. To know this.
“I love you.”
Taehyung jolts a little, looking down into Jungkook’s eyes finally. They haven’t really said it since the break up. And it isn’t that Jungkook hasn’t felt it, but their situation felt precarious, like one wrong move would have them backsliding. He’d already been devastated once, maybe he was inadvertently guarding his heart.
He didn’t realize that Taehyung had been doing the same for months before that.
“I love you too.”
“I am endlessly surprised and amazed by you. I don’t think I could ever get bored of anything Taehyung .”
Taehyung laughs wetly, nose sniffling after. “All couples eventually get bored. It’s inevitable.”
“What an exciting thought,” Jungkook says sincerely. “To have loved someone so long that everything they do and say becomes humdrum? I can’t wait to know all your habits and how every minute of your day went until it feels like we have nothing left to share with each other because we already share it all. Silent morning coffee where we try to find something funny the birds outside are doing just to have one more thing to share. I can’t imagine anything less bor-”
Taehyung pulls him up, hunching over to meet Jungkook in the middle for a kiss.
Taehyung’s cheeks are wet under his hands and it doesn’t take long for those big feelings and the relief of this moment to catch up to him as well. The salt mixes with Jungkook’s flavored chapstick and the remnants of Taehyung’s sweet drink.
Cherry cola kisses.
“Okay! We’ve had enough!” Jimin barges into the room. “It’s time to pull your head out of your ass and- oh…”
Jimin just as quickly exits the room, leaving Jungkook and Taehyung in a fit of teary giggles.
“Will you get boring with me? Officially?” Jungkook asks Taehyung, standing up and wiping his face.
“I like the sound of that.”
Taehyung holds his hand out and Jungkook laces their fingers together.
The others politely ignore them when they come back into the living room, but Taehyung clears his throat and suddenly all eyes are on them.
“I’d like you all to meet my boyfriend, Jungkook. It turns out we are both, in fact, idiots.”
Jungkook hides behind his one free hand. Their friends make an unholy ruckus, he feels Jimin wrap around them both momentarily before someone, most likely Jin, drags him away. Taehyung makes an excuse for them and pulls Jungkook out of the apartment and into the night.
He’s about to suggest a movie at Taehyung’s since Jimin is still at the party, but Taehyung pulls him into the bushes at the edge of the complex.
“Sorry, force of habit,” Taehyung laughs between kisses.
“Never a dull moment,” Jungkook teases. “Do you think we can actually watch Kung Fu Panda this time?”